The New York City Marathon - scheduled for Sunday - was called off Friday due to lingering effects from Superstorm Sandy, the city's mayor said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg had said earlier in the week the race would go on - despite transportation, power and other issues - contending, among other things, that businesses could use the economic boost the event provides.

But on Friday, he and the New York Road Runners issued a joint statement saying city officials and race organizers decided to cancel the race because they did "not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants."

Good decision to call off the marathon. Focus on recovering first then worry about the fun stuff later. There is tons of work that needs to be done and it could be weeks, months, possibly years before all is back the way it once was.

I think this is a very sound decision. Even though you specify that the marathon won't be diverting any resources away from the storm effort it is an extremely large distraction and you and I both know that policemen are going to have to be deployed everywhere in the city to put up barricades and security...do they just have policemen on standby right now not doing anything? I don't think so...

nice of him to wait until everyone got to NY before he canceled, that way he can ensure everyone there will still be able to spend millions. Had he canceled it earlier in the week then all those people would not have come to NY, thus costing the city millions in lost revenue

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